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RESEARCHING and writing the 60 'pen profiles' of broadcaster James Naughtie's book, The New Elizabethans, was one of the "happiest projects" of his career.

Nominated by Radio 4 listeners, the journalist and presenter of the Today show - who appeared at the Guildford Book Festival on Thursday night - said condensing the stories of the men and women who "changed our era in the post-war world" into short chapters was difficult but satisfying.

"The interesting thing to me as someone who was born in the 50s is that it's a story that has a great deal of change - some of it quite violent, some of it surprising, some alarming to people, but also a lot of continuity - a flickering home movie."

He said each of the 60 characters, including such staples of British society as Roald Dahl, David Attenborough and Margaret Thatcher, were the "voices of the generation" - apt for a man voted the best radio voice to wake up to.